And though they maintained many of the old hotel's existing materials,

Very close to Constitution Square and the Roman Ruins of Plaka, the hotel was originally built in the 1940s. In their first major hotel project, the Campanas kept many of the old hotel’s existing materials, including a black marble staircase. But to give it a sustainable, contemporary uplift, they added new materials – such as solid bamboo floors and tables and corridors laid with bark cloth from Uganda – and hand made several one-of-a-kind decorative and furniture pieces.

To realize this project, the brothers engaged undergraduate architecture students from the University of Thessaly, who were especially helpful in infusing the whole project with three underlying cultural themes, namely folklore, the evil eye, and old Athens. Their attention to the city’s socio-cultural context gives this magnificent hotel that little extra human touch.